Jim Chanos
James Chanos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Investor |
| Known for | Short selling |
| Notable work | Founder of Kynikos Associates, LP |
James S. Chanos (born December 24, 1957) is an American investment manager and currently serves as president and founder of Kynikos Associates, a New York City registered investment advisor who is focused on short selling.
Early life and education
Chanos was born in 1957 into a Greek immigrant family living in Milwaukee that operated a chain of dry-cleaning shops.[1] He graduated from Wylie E. Groves High School, and then Yale University in 1980.[2]
Career
He describes his investment strategy as being based on "intensive research into stocks"[3] looking for fundamental and large market failures in valuation, typically based on underestimated or previously unreported failings in the business or market of a stock. He follows this research by committing to a (usually large) short-position which he is willing to hold for long period of time—almost the mirror image of Warren Buffett's reputed "fundamentals+long stay" investment strategy.[4] Because of this model, his investments function more like those of a whistle-blower than most typical investments. Examples of this include short-selling companies such as Baldwin-United, and more recently Enron Corporation.[5]
He began his career in the 1980s as a short seller. After working as an analyst in several firms, he founded Kynikos (Greek for "cynic") in 1985 with $16 million,[6] as a firm specializing in short selling. A critical position taken at Kynikos was his shorting of Enron.[7] He became famous as a short seller when he predicted the fall of Enron Corp. before it filed for bankruptcy in 2001.[6]
Chanos was a short seller of Enron throughout 2001, increasing his short position as more information surfaced. Kynikos profited greatly.
Chanos is a long-time skeptic of the Chinese economy. In a January 2010 interview in the New York Times, Chanos predicted the Chinese economy would crash, resembling “Dubai times 1,000 — or worse”.[8] He reasoned that historically analogous evidence points especially to a property bubble, particularly in commercial real estate.[9]
Previous jobs
- Analyst with Blyth Eastman Webber.[10]
- Analyst with Gilford Securities - where he exposed Baldwin-United, which filed for bankruptcy thereafter.[5]
- Analyst and Vice President at Deutsche Bank Capital Corp.[5]
- Founder and President of Kynikos Associates Ltd (current).[11]
References
- ^ "Jim Chanos Resource Page". ValueWalk. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- ^ "James Chanos Lecturer in the Practice of Finance". Yale School of Management. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- ^ Leder, Michelle (2003). Financial fine print: uncovering a company's true value. John Wiley and Sons. p. 35. ISBN 0-471-43347-0. ISBN 9780471433477.
- ^ "The man who got China right".
- ^ a b c Sherman, Gabriel (December 15, 2008). "The Catastrophe Capitalist". New York Magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
- ^ a b Chung, Juliet (16 September 2015). "China Bear James Chanos Roars After Years of Losses". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- ^ James Chanos (2002). Anyone could have seen Enron coming: Prepared witness testimony given Feb. 6, 2002 to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. [1].
- ^ Barboza, David (January 8, 2010). "Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ^ "James Chanos interviewed by Charlie Rose".
- ^ Mahar, Maggie (2004). Bull!: A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004. HarperCollins. p. 56. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
- ^ Gammeltoft, Nikolaj; Kisling, Whitney (May 24, 2011). "Chanos Misses Out as Chinese Stocks in U.S. Plunge on Accounting Concerns". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 24, 2011.